Just keep smiling 💋

I normally get my daily hit of general goings-on in the world digitally: Buzzfeed, Tumblr, Twitter, etc (everyone has their own favourite app they instinctively go to). But the other day I thought I would treat myself and get a glossy mag to pair with a good coffee and cake.

Wanting more than “Jennifer Lawrence eats french toast” and “I divorced my oven to marry my shower cap” I opted for the sophisticated looking Elle magazine. However after only a few seconds in`I noticed something a bit odd…

There were a lot of ads

A TRUCKLOAD OF ADS

Frustrated, I decided to divide the advert pages from the actual magazine pages, the results shown in the picture below. Looks like a fair amount of advertising pages…..…If the pile on the left were the magazine pages.

But they’re not

…the pile on the right are the magazine article pages.

THE PILE ON THE LEFT IS ADVERTISING?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

And I’m not counting pages with reviews on, or less than half a page of text as advertising. Anything that was promoting one brand was an advert- so if the page had 10 red dresses on by different designers this would not count as advertising……………….you get the idea.

So let’s just look at that in more detail; there were 35 article pages……against a whopping 315 pages of adverts! And I didn’t count the ads on the other side of the article!!!!

What is going on!

This is a magazine not a look book right?

Yes I got a free Benefit they’re real mascara

But I paid £4.30…..!?!?!?

Better to point out that Elle is not the only magazine to fill many pages with promotional shots paid for by all sorts of brands- the digital age has made it harder to produce profitable paper versions of lots of media. We’re used to seeing promotions everywhere, literally all over- don’t be surprised to find an ad for moving house on the inside of your panty liners pack (sorry guys).

So The Good Wife has had a lot of press recently with the release of Series 7 as well as the announcement of the new series, The Good Fight, where we get a chance to see more of Diane Lockhart (Christine Baranski) being totally kick-ass, sassy without being under 21… a massive high five to the entire female population.”Yes I’m still going to be as fabulous and fierce as I was when I needed I.D- if not better”. Snaps

Alicia Florrick- The Good Wife

But in the wake of the awards season I feel Julianna Margulies (who plays Alicia Florrick) deserves recognition other than talking about her famously expensive wig.

(FYI she had a number of $10,000 wigs made for the series as it would be quicker to get her screen ready compared to trying to tame her unruly mane- and I guess it was worth it because it blew everyones’ mind that Alicia’s hair wasn’t her own).

But can we just talk about Episode 13: Judged, 25 mins in.

To anyone who has doubted their purpose in the world or who found themselves asking “what am I doing with my life” this will be like holding up a metaphorical mirror. You will be in no doubt that Alicia Florrick is real and her heart and soul are broken.

“To pull the covers over my head and never do anything ever again”

“I’m not made to be an unhappy person, I like laughing”

“I hurt, and I just want it to be over- I want it to end”

Her acting is so flawless that you forget it is a performance- a trait I feel many great actors and actresses miss out on recognition for because you don’t walk away going wow what a great performance by X. In that moment there is no essence of the real person, all you see is the character they portray (probably why Leo DiCaprio doesn’t have a billion OSCARS- we forgot he was acting- I mean Jack Dawson did go down with the Titanic right?).

Either way you should watch The Good Wife- it’s awesome throughout with really thought provoking issues and cases. Good job Julianna- you kick butt!

Despite Storm Katie and leaving the house with sunglasses, umbrella AND gloves in bag

What’s that little owl?

But in those brief periods of sunshine we can grab our sunnies, shed the layers and emerge from hibernation bleary eyed. If you happen to be doing this in Bournemouth there is a place you have to try to prolong that Summer-is-coming feeling- YOBU!!!

Yobu is a frozen yogurt and bubble tea cafe located next to 7 Bone (a very worthy place to eat) or if you want directions from Cath Kidston, because where else you’ll you be, step out of the shop, turn right and walk out to the street, look diagonally left and there it is!

(I grabbed these images off their website)

Or just put 7 Gervis Place, BH12AL into your phone…

Don’t know what bubble tea is? That’s ok, here is a long explanation

IT’S YUMMY, DRINK IT & GET A LOYALTY CARD!

(it’s cold tea with milk and jelly bits in- you choose the flavours)

Last time I had rose tea with jasmine, mango jelly and peach balls, my favourite so far! And it’s pink 💗 #nofilter

So if you haven’t already seen the film “The man from U.N.C.L.E” go and watch it IMMEDIATELY. Not only does it feature the amazing Armie Hammer and Henry Cavill and what other reason to watch a film, but it is also brilliantly entertaining if you need another “non-girly” reason to see it. As the film developed I couldn’t help but feel I had seen this Napoleon Solo before….

WAIT I HAVE!!!!

In the form none other than animated series ARCHER!
Sterling Malory Archer, better known simply as Archer, is the world’s deadliest spy and the main protagonist of the series, summed up by one of his famous quotes…

Other: “you’re wearing silk socks?!”

Archer: “you’re not?!!!!” 😵

So let’s look at the similarities, both characters have the same persona: suave, stylish and serial womanisers, but not only that, they have nearly exactly the same physical appearance.

Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill): 6″1, blue eyes, black hair.

Sterling Archer: 6″2, blue eyes, black hair.

SAME HAIRLINE AND PARTING

SAME JAWLINE, CHEEKBONES AND BUM CHIN

SAME RIDGE IN THE NOSE

SAME MOUTH AND NOSE SHAPE

SAME OUTFITS!!!!!!

You get the idea, it’s official, Napoleon Solo in the real life embodiment of Sterling Archer

Staying on the topic of Disney and princesses, here are 35 cocktails you just have to try making……any excuse for a princess party! You can find more great ideas on the creators Facebook page “cocktails by Cody”. Cheers to that!

The last half a decade has seen the huge revival of Disney, (need I mention Frozen) and has thrown those amazing classics back into the limelight.

The first Disney Princess to grace our screens was Snow WhiteWAY back in 1937, which might have been followed by more films sooner if not for WWII from 1939-1945, a period distinctly lacking in princesses off to balls as nearly all women were donning boiler suits and supporting the war.

The initial boom was in the 1950s with Cinderella (1950), Alice in Wonderland (1951), Peter Pan (1953) and Sleeping Beauty creating the four cornerstones of the Disney classics.

The second wave of Disney Princess films came unsurprisingly after the end of another war- the Cold War, with The Little Mermaid shown the same year as the final uprisings in Eastern Europe against the communist regimes in 1989. Beauty and the Beast marked the year of the formal dissolution of the USSR in 1991 (if you don’t know what USSR is- Google it. It’s very significant to current European events). Aladdin followed in 1992 and from 1995 there was one each year: Pocahontas, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules, Mulan and Tarzan wrapping up the century in 1999.

It wasn’t until a decade after in 2009 that we saw the next Disney Princess film, The Princess and the Frog with the first non-white leading lady (about time- #princesses for equality! Mulan, Jasmine and Pocahontas still all had white skin…you get the point I’m trying to make). Welcomed back like the return of a prodigal son (or daughter), Disney powered through on their new found wave of support producing Tangled (2010), Brave (2012) and the big one- FROZEN in 2013.

So the last half a decade has seen the revival of Disney Princesses in a big way, it’s not just for kids any more, or rather those people who were kids in the 90s are still loving being a princess well into their twenties. Buzz feed, Etsy and generally the whole retail world has catered to every adult princess’s needs (dresses, quizzes, hairstyles, jewellery etc etc etc) 👗💄💍👛👑

Amid this new acceptance of “adult princesses” there have been a number of beautiful re-imaging of the classics. I was totally enchanted by the recent drawings by Jurka Vinse Jonatan Vaatainen, a Finn who studied at Bournemouth Uni, reimagining what Disney characters would look like in real like. Just stunning. Secretly you know you see yourself as one of them 😋👗👑🦄

Japanese designer Jiro Miura has created an adorable collection of animal rings that curl around your fingers! You can find the entire collection on his blog page Count Blue.

They cost anything between $15 to $200 and if you’re thinking “that’s a bit much for an unpractical ring” I repeat…THERE ARE TINY ANIMALS WRAPPED ROUND YOUR FINGERS!

If rings aren’t your thing then don’t fear…he makes other types of animal jewellery (animal shaped jewellery, not jewellery for animals or jewellery made out of animals) 🙀

Cue the hedgehog earings!

If you can’t access Jiro’s blog page to order items because it’s all in Japanese and you’re computer can’t handle translating, then you can find his items on Etsy. Mishakrisha sells rings for £3.40 and while you are there, check out the time turner necklace for the same price! Harry Potter love 💗

And if you are being sensible and want slightly more practical jewellery then check out Cuir Carameliser for beautiful pieces like this gold hedgehog with a blue back.

As Harry Potter continues to take over the world (not a bad thing) this is the latest product I am excited about, the new iBooks that allows you to dive deeper into the magical wizarding world of the Harry Potter Universe.⚡️🚂🐀🐾📕📗📘📙📓📚📖

Harry Potter Exclusive Enhanced Editions can be bought from iTunes for £6.99 and despite already having a copy or two of each book, I have to admit I am tempted. Surely reading Harry Potter counts as education and so this is like investing in a textbook (that’s my justification anyway).

Thirteen years since the publication of the Philosopher’s Stone and eight years since the final Deathly Hallows, this seems to be the first reinvention of the books.

“BUT HARRY POTTER DOES NOT NEED REINVENTING!” I hear you cry!

Quite so, but this electronic version doesn’t try to update the book or change anything, they simply add the world of HP and help you fall further under its spell.

New illustrations and animations bring that world we all secretly wish we lived in seem just a little closer, showing those magical scenes we wish made it into the films, while still leaving plenty of room for your imagination to fill in any gaps.

I can’t decide if these books are for original Harry Potter fans to devour and engross themselves in even further (we always want more HP), or if they are for the next generation that I fear have replaced good old paper books with an electronic screen and whose library is contained within a small black device, instead of row upon row of books.